Rand Paul to Campaign in Alaska

Days before President Barack Obama visits Alaska to spell out his policy plans to combat climate change, one of the many Republicans vying to take over the White House in 2016 will also head to the Last Frontier.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, will arrive in the state on Aug. 25, according to Dragona Bozic, a campaign staffer who spoke by phone Thursday from Paul’s campaign headquarters in Washington.

President Obama said Thursday that his multi-day trip beginning with his Aug. 31 arrival in Anchorage will highlight Alaska’s position “on the frontlines of climate change.”

“Climate change once seemed like a problem for future generations, but for most Americans it’s already a reality,” the president said in a video. “In Alaska, glaciers are melting, the hunting and fishing upon which generations have depended for their way of life and their jobs are being threatened.”

Obama’s visit has been met with tepid enthusiasm by the state’s Congressional delegation. “Many Alaskans have expressed anxiety and worry about further land use designations or ocean preserves by this Administration,” Rep. Don Young, a Republican, wrote Thursday on his Facebook page. “It is my hope that the president will use his visit as an opportunity to learn about the many challenges we face and not as a platform to pander to extreme interest groups.”